Yakabout - Those illustrious red-headed hard body lures

Home

Those illustrious red-headed hard body lures

PDF

| Print |

E-mail

Thursday, 25 October 2007

What is it about these things that fish like so much?

Red-headed lures: as attractive to fish as Jessica Alba is to men

I've got quite a respectable little collection of hard body lures now, consisting of higher end brand name versions, as well as inexpensive knock-offs. Perhaps the most common design of these is the oh-so common red-headed lure, which usually has a white or silver body. In times past I would discount these lures as not looking enough like bait fish and never gave them a chance.

But through my experience in recent months, I'm starting to realise that there's a really good reason that they are so common. Its because they work... really well. In fact, while trolling from the kayak I'm catching more fish with these lures than anything else in my collection - everything from Trevally to Mackeral and Tuna. What I'm not so sure about is why. I do know some gold fish look a bit like this, but I do wonder what it is that makes them so appealing to salt-water species. If anyone can tell me why they are so effective I'd love to hear about it.

I've tried 4 brands of this style of hard body lure so far and all of them have caught fish. Pictured is the Halco Laser pro, although I'd probably call the Rapalla variant my favourite - it's components and construction seem to be the best I've found. I also like the Predator versions. Having said that, I've caught most of the fish on the least expensive Trollcraft models, which cost anything from $4.00 to $10.00, depending on the size (and the retailer). However, I think that's got more to do with the fact that I've been using them a lot more as well.